Finger of fate spoils a moment in history for Angela Merkel and Benjamin Netanyahu

It was meant to be a historic, symbolic meeting held to celebrate almost 50 years of diplomatic ties between Germany and Israel.

But when German chancellor Angela Merkel stood before the world’s media after talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an accidental wag of his finger caused the whole occasion to be somewhat… overshadowed.

This rather unfortunate positioning of his hand, causing Ms Merkel to resemble a certain former German dictator, was taken by a photographer for the Jerusalem Post and swiftly went viral online.

The newspaper’s reporter Ben Hartman described it as ‘picture of the year’, although commentators have been divided over whether it is funny – or simply something to gasp at in astonishment.

George Osborne towers over his French counterpart (Picture: Getty)

To put the historical record straight, Ms Merkel became the first European leader to receive Israel’s highest civil award, the Presidential Medal of Distinction, in recognition of her support for the country.

Sadly, a picture can still paint a thousand words… and pop up on 10,000 websites. So perhaps the German leader can take some comfort in the fact that she’s the latest in a long line of politicians to be caught out by spectral shadows.

Chancellor George Osborne fell victim in 2011 when he was snapped seemingly trying to shake hands with the miniature silhouette of his French counterpart, François Baroin, at a meeting of G7 finance ministers.

And at the 2010 Labour Party Conference, the looming shadow of opposition leader Ed Miliband weirdly appeared to single out his colleague, shadow education secretary Ed Balls, for special praise.